Signs could be pointing to possible legal action after a city council candidate agreed to have a large mobile election sign removed Thursday from in front of the campaign headquarters of mayoral hopeful Drew Dilkens.

“It’s out of respect for the property owner who asked me if I would be kind enough to remove it,” Ward 3 candidate Gabe Maggio told The Star about a decision to remove the sign from in front of the former Angileri Lumber property at 2437 Howard Avenue.

But the owner of the sign, who happens to also be a candidate for city council in a different ward, is threatening legal action. John Middleton, of ABC Signs, said he’s meeting with his lawyer on Tuesday after “agreeing to disagree” with a bylaw enforcement officer responding to a complaint made to the city.

Files: John Middleton speaks at a city council meeting in Windsor on April 8, 2013. (Windsor Star files)

“I’ve used these signs since … the 2000 elections — there’s never been a problem,” he told The Star.

Windsor’s sign bylaw prohibits so-called mobile signs without municipal approval and the purchase of a $55 city permit.

“I’m very well aware that’s what the bylaw says — but I disagree,” said Middleton, who is one of five candidates so far in Ward 5.

Windsor’s chief building official Lee Anne Doyle, whose department oversees bylaw enforcement, said officers respond to complaints, which was the case here.

Maggio said he had signs up on the property in July, at the owner’s request and before the Dilkens campaign was announced, and he said they subsequently disappeared. It was then decided that something “more anti-theft proof was needed,” and the mobile sign was towed into place in the parking lot in front of the building.

What ensued was a social media eruption with lengthy Facebook threads devoted to the issue. “Currently, we are in full compliance as no order has been issued,” Maggio said Wednesday in one of the online conversations.

The sign’s owner, Middleton, was contacted by bylaw enforcement on Wednesday and advised the mobile sign needed to be removed.

Doyle said if there’s no permit, a 24-hour order is issued for the removal of any mobile sign. If there’s no action, the city tows away the mobile sign and charges the owner a $200 “fee” for its return.

Middleton said no order had been issued and that the decision had already been made by him and his customer to remove the sign. Doyle said it’s “absolutely not” OK for such mobile signs to remain in the absence of a removal order.

Windsor’s sign bylaw permits three types of so-called “temporary election signs” on private property — those pounded in the ground commonly seen in front yards, posters, and fascia wall, which are those painted or fixed to exterior walls. A separate bylaw prohibits election signs from any public rights-of-way.

“The ambiguity in the law is serious,” said Maggio. Doyle said the sign bylaw is clear, that it hasn’t been an issue with other candidates, and that if anyone has questions, they can seek clarification from city officials.

As for Middleton’s complaints, Doyle added, “There’s an expectation that a sign company is familiar with the city’s sign bylaws.”

The online brouhaha was “causing a distraction” and led the Dilkens campaign team to contact the city, according to campaign manager Abe Taqtaq. “People were calling us up and asking whether we were endorsing Gabe Maggio — the nominations are still open,” he said.

The offending “Maggio for Ward 3″ sign was loaded up and carted off late Thursday afternoon.

A little over 24 hours earlier, the Maggio campaign posted online its reasons for the move: “Out of respect for the electoral process and in the spirit of cooperation, such as can be expected if Gabe Maggio is elected, the sign will be moved and displayed at another location.”

Depending on what his lawyer advises next week, Middleton said he could be proceeding legally against the city on the matter. During the 2010 municipal elections, Middleton, who ran unsuccessfully in Ward 5, launched a $1-million defamation suit against the city over the alleged circumstances that led to his removal two years earlier as volunteer head of the Windsor Citizens’ Crime Prevention Committee.

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